MANILA, Philippines — University of Santo Tomas rode on the momentum off a huge victory and gave University of the East the boot from final four contention, 54-45, Sunday at the 74th UAAP men’s basketball tournament.
Jeric Teng came up with a clutch trey before Jeric Fortuna nailed a nifty teardrop and set up the a three-point play for brawny Cameroonian reinforcement Karim Abdul as the Growling Tigers raised their chances of nabbing a semifinals spot.
UST, sitting precariously in fourth place with a 6-5 record, started firing on all cylinders midway the fourth quarter, and finally created a comfortable separation from UE, whose hopes of a final four stint was quelled with the setback.
Abdul threw his weight around the paint with 16 points and 13 rebounds that went with three swats and two steals as the Growling Tigers followed up their 60-52 victory over La Salle Thursday.
“This is the momentum we’ve been hoping for,” said UST head coach Pido Jarencio, though the door remains ajar for La Salle (4-6) and NU (4-7).
Fortuna bounced back from an anemic outing and sank 11 points, including a sparkplug of a trey with 8:18 left in the game which jumpstarted UST’s assault.
Teng, meanwhile, gunned down a swish from beyond the arc with 2:18 remaining to finish with six points in 31 minutes.
Both teams, though, struggled on both ends as the Growling Tigers shot just 28 percent from the field, and only made three of their 15 attempts from three point area while the Red Warriors commited 25 turnovers.
UST pounced on the UE’s unstable ball handling, turning the turnovers to 19 points.
But even as UE, who dipped to 2-9, threw the leather way more than they trooped to the line, the resilient Red Warriors paced by John Sumido even paraded a 30-24 lead at the end of the first half.
Forward Sumido, though, was the only one in double digits on UE’s side with 10 points, along with six rebounds, as the Red Warriors only went to the stripe six times the entire match compared to UST’s 17.